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Drummer Plays Classic Sonic Game Music

Andrea Vadrucci, better known as Vadrum on YouTube, has generated more than 80 million views since 2006 for his drum-based performances of video game music, most notably three performances from Super Mario Bros in 2008. Now, Vadrucci has uploaded a new video featuring a medley of music focused on Mario’s former rival, Sonic the Hedgehog. The video, titled “Vadrum Meets Sonic the Hedgehog” is more than eight minutes long and all of the music is from the original version of the game, released in 1991.

“The amazing music (composed by Masato Nakamura and Yuzo Koshiro) is from the 8-bit version of the game, released in 1991 (yeah, more than 25 years ago!) for the Sega Master System and Game Gear; oh man, how much I LOVED it back in the days!” Vadrum writes in the video’s description. “And in the same way I loved every single thing of this video, from the idea to the final stage.”

The individual tunes in the medley are not called out in the description and each song tends to transition immediately into another, but it’s still pretty easy for any longtime Sonic fan to pick out each track. “Green Hill Zone” will likely be the track most recognized by casual fans, it starts at around 1:40 of the video. Vadrum rocks out over the tracks using a kick drum, four toms, three percussions, two snares and 12 cymbals.

Perhaps even more impressive, however, is the energy and enthusiasm that Vadrum displays, continuously smiling and moving his head along with the music for the entirety of the performance. You can tell he’s just as into this music as he was for some of his classic Mario sessions in the past.

This performance wasn’t quite what we meant when we said that Sonic the Hedgehog needs a successful 2017, but if this video continues to go viral, it certainly can’t hurt the franchise’s prospects going forward. At this point, Sonic needs all the help he can get if he wants to once again be considered on par with Mario and other top tier gaming characters.

To that end, Sega is shipping two new Sonic games later this year, so perhaps we’ll get to see Vadrum take on the music from some more modern Sonic titles in the near future.